VALENCE POPULISM in PAKISTAN: MAKING SENSE of IMRAN KHAN's IDEOLOGICAL CLUELESSNESS
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VALENCE POPULISM IN PAKISTAN: MAKING SENSE OF IMRAN KHAN's IDEOLOGICAL CLUELESSNESS By Muhammad Umair Khalid Submitted to Central European University Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Political Science Supervisor: Professor Daniel Bochsler Budapest, Hungary (2020) CEU eTD Collection Abstract Imran Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Movement for Justice) (PTI) came into power following the 2018 parliamentary general elections on the back of robust populist rhetoric focusing on anti-corruption, morality, governance reforms and demonizing of the previous ruling elite of the country. Expanding on the populism literature and by employing the Critical Discourse Analysis and Discourse Historical Approach, the study tries to make sense of Khan's populist discourse in comparison to the similar populism elsewhere. The study places it into a 'valence' populism category studied in the context of Central and Eastern European political parties' context. It also tries to look into the specific case of Pakistan in comparison to other valence populist parties in the world and tries to identify the roots of such populist discourse in Pakistan by looking into the historical context and differentiates them from other valence parties around the world. Finally, it outlines the reasons why a leader's ideological transition on the political spectrum is not pronounced in a democracy like Pakistan as compared to elsewhere. CEU eTD Collection i Acknowledgments I would like to thank Professor Daniel Bochsler for his guidance and valuable feedback throughout the thesis writing process and regular workshops, especially during the lockdown period, and making the task smooth. I am also grateful to Professor Muhammad Waseem for his mentorship and guidance. I would especially like to thank my dear friends Adil, Arafat, and Anam, who helped me throughout my master's program both academically as well as motivated me in tougher times to do my best. I owe this to all of you. Lastly, I would like to thank my siblings and parents for their unwavering support throughout this journey and dedicate this thesis and degree to them. CEU eTD Collection ii Table of Contents Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................................ iii List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Research Aim: ........................................................................................................................................... 2 Chapter I: The Current State of Populism Research .................................................................................... 4 1.1 Populism in Theory ............................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Populism Across the World ................................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Valence Populism ............................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter II: Case Selection and Methodology ............................................................................................ 11 2.1 Valence Populism and the Case of Pakistan .................................................................................... 11 2.2 Research Methodology .................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter III: Empirical Analysis ................................................................................................................... 16 List of Speeches and Policy Documents:................................................................................................ 16 3.1 Analysis of Speeches and Policy Documents ................................................................................... 17 3.1.1 Speech Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 17 3.1.2 Policy Document Analysis ......................................................................................................... 37 3.2 Findings and Discussion: Establishing the Case of Imran Khan as Valence Populist ..................... 40 3.2.1 Establishing Khan as a Valence Populist ................................................................................... 40 3.2.2 Where Does Pakistan Fit in the Valence Populism Debate?.................................................... 43 3.2.3 Why the Ideological Cluelessness Does Not Become Visible in the Case of Pakistan ............ 44 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 47 Bibliography................................................................................................................................................ 49 CEU eTD Collection iii List of Abbreviations Word Abbreviation Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf PTI Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz PMLN Pakistan Peoples Party PPP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa K.P. United States U.S. Critical Discourse Analysis CDA Discourse Historical Approach DHA China-Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC CEU eTD Collection iv Introduction Despite it being a trending topic in the contemporary political science research, populist parties and leaders are still considered as 'outsiders' or 'challengers.'1 However, the political events over the past decade and a half inform us that these populist political parties are integrated into the national systems of numerous countries (especially in Europe), while populist leaders are emerging in other places, for example, Donald Trump in the United States (U.S.), Narendra Modi in India, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey among others. "The mapping of various ideational variations of populist parties and leaders represents a critical step in understanding their effect on the construction of political conflict."2 While the populist political parties or the leaders have been traditionally categorized into right-wing or left-wing and sometimes centrist, scholars have argued for another category: valence populists. Along with the 'populist radical right,' the right-wing populist grouping includes 'national-conservative populists,'3 and the 'neoliberal populists.'4 In comparison, the parties in the left-wing populist group are the ones that co-opt various forms of socialism with populism. These parties include 'social populists'5 and 'national-social populists.'6 On the other hand, there are centrist populists, the examples of which could be found in the post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. However, they fall closest to the category of valence populists.7 These populists "offer little more than 'valence considerations' and hence, do not fall in the right or left categories, nor exclusionary or inclusionary, as they 'defy positional definition altogether'." "These principal CEU eTD Collection 1 See, Mattia Zulianello, “Varieties of Populist Parties and Party Systems in Europe: From State-of-the-Art to the Application of a Novel Classification Scheme to 66 Parties in 33 Countries,” Government and Opposition 55, no. 2 (2020): 1-21. 2 Ibid 3 Rafał Pankowski et al., "Radical nationalism in Poland: From theory to practice," RIGHT-WING IN EUROPE 157 (2013): 162 4 See, Cas Mudde, Populist radical right parties in Europe. Vol. 22, no. 8, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 5 See, Mudde, “Populist radical right”, 1167-1186 6 See, Luke March, Radical left parties in Europe. Routledge, 2012. 7 Zulianello, "Varieties of Populist Parties”, 3 1 focus of these parties exercising valence politics8 remains on non-positional social and political issues,"9 for example, fighting corruption, governance reforms, transparency, and moral integrity while presenting themselves as ones from the ordinary people. The conception of valence populism falls closer to the 'centrist' populist parties10. However, the difference is that the former (centrist) terminology "directly or indirectly refers to the ideological or geometric center of the party system."11 However, the valence populists do sometimes adopt particular positions. Nevertheless, an unadulterated conception of populism still shapes their position on social and policy issues, and are "therefore flexible, free-floating and, often, inconsistent." "Valence populists thus subscribe to a 'pure' version of populism, meaning that they are neither right-wing nor left-wing, neither exclusionary nor exclusionary."1213 After establishing the valence image of populists and theorizing the populism debate across different regions of the world, the study taps into the case of Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan,